Review

With the release of his Eastern Conference debut, Movies for the Blind, New York rapper Cage successfully breaks free from past comparisons to Eminem. It was inevitable that the two would draw comparisons - both Chris Palko and Marshall Mathers are white rappers whose material is extremely personal and often deals with dark themes and imagery. But, beyond these minor aspects, the two couldn't be more different, particularly in their associations. Mathers is determined to be seen in the same light as Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and other hardcore rappers. Cage, on the other hand, associates himself with alternative hip hop musicians, including producers like El-P, RJD2 or Necro.

Much of the lyrical content of Movies for the Blind stems from a troubled upbringing that included much drug use, multiple suicide attempts and time spent in a mental institution, the Stoney Lodge. The album's production is extremely good, with some highlights including the trippy "Stoney Lodge", the busy "The Soundtrack..." and the haunting "Among the Sleep". Cage's lyrics range from the violent to the outright bizarre and humorous ("The dead came back and haunted the wrong address").

Perhaps most memorable is the inclusion of Cage's 1997 single "Agent Orange", in which he takes on the personality of Alex, the anti-hero of Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange, rapping against a Necro beat sampling Wendy Carlos' famed score. Also memorable is "A Suicidal Failure", recounting a violent, drug-filled night.

The drug content is very outright, ranging from PCP-induced hallucinations to a sampled conversation involving smoking a joint dipped in embalming fluid. Cage would later reject this past work upon arriving on Definitive Jux Records, expressing his opinion that the album glorified the drugs portrayed in many of the album's tracks. As Cage continues to progress as an artist, this first effort shows a strong performance of the unique rapper, offering some of the most interesting themes and lyrics you are likely to hear in any rap album. Recommended.

Good review, but too short. Could have been better as a sound-off. Also, I feel as though your review has no body. No opening paragraph to grab us by the balls, just no depth really. Im not trying to judge you and you do write very well, but just have some more substance my new friend.

i have a mixtape with him, the weathermen mixtape, and for underground hip hop its pretty decent. might peep this, although i dont like necros production work at all. good review, but id like to see some samples of the lyrics youre praising, and some more talk about the production would be nice.

solid review, but yeah, try to space them out to like 1 or 2 per week. i think a major thing you should work on is developing your own voice as a writer... and putting in a tiny bit more detail. i personally love short reviews, as i struggle to remain engaged in reviews longer than this... but still, you left out critical details (like the production), and some of your descriptions are very generic.

this is late but cage is not a "whack mc" hes grown to bigger things then rapping about how his life sucks, not that i have anything wrong with that but hes a different person hes seen new things he has a new life and now hes making new music. hes a real dude

cage is actually becoming one of my favorite rappers(or at least based on the stuff he put out before he got clean/bad). this is his only good full length, but the weatherproof ep is great, nighthawks collab with camu tao is good, waterworld by leak bros is awesome, all of the early demos and tracks he put out were awesome, smut peddlers is great. i feel like he's pretty overlooked in general.

This album is hoodrat as shit, his rapping is and will always be kind of bad and some of the songs are really really lame but Down the Left Hand Path, Agent Orange, Too Much yeee i used to get down to that back in the day being a little shithead. "I survived abortion got mushed in that canister shaped coffin till stolen from the garbage i was tossed in"